Relationships between lead-induced learning and memory impairments and gut microbiota disturbance in mice / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Objective: To explore the effect of lead exposure on the neurobehavior and gut microbiota community structure in mice. Methods: In August 2019, 64 C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: control group (0 ppm) , low lead exposure group (20 mg/l) , medium lead exposure group (100 mg/l) and high lead exposure group (500 mg/l) . During the experiment, they were free to eat and drink. The drinking water of the lead exposure group was mixed with lead acetate, and sodium acetate was added in the control group. After 10 weeks of exposure, the Morris water maze was used to test the learning and memory ability of each group of mice, and then they were sacrificed for sampling. ICP-MS was used to detect lead content in whole blood and brain tissue. ELISA was used to determine the level of IL-1β in mouse serum. 16S rRNA sequencing was used to detect the structural diversity of the intestinal flora in feces, and then the correlation between the flora and behavior indicators was analyzed. Results: In the Morris water maze experiment, compared with the control group, there was no significant difference in the body weight and swimming speed of the mice in the lead exposure groups. The escape latency of the mice in the 100 mg/l and 500 mg/l dose groups was prolonged, and the number of platform crossings decreased (P<0.05) ; meanwhile, the staying time of the mice in the 500 mg/l Pb-treated group in the target quadrant was lower than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) . Compared with the control group, the blood lead content of the mice in each lead exposure group was significantly increased, and the brain lead content of mice in the 500 mg/l dose group was significantly elevated (P<0.05) . The serum IL-1β levels of mice in each lead exposure group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05) . At the phylum level, the relative abundance of the Proteobacteria phylum in all of Pb-treated groups was significantly increased (P<0.05) ; at the genus level, Allobaculum, Desulfovibrio, Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Turicibacter and Ureaplasma were significantly increased (P<0.05) . Among them. The relative abundance of Desuffaoibrio, Turici bacter, and Ureaplasma was negatively correlated with the residence time of mice in the quadrant of the platform (r=-0.32, -0.29, -0.44, P<0.05) . Conclusion: Lead exposure induced learning and memory impairments in mice, which may be related to the disturbance of the gut microbiota.

Psychophysiological Effects of Bamboo Plants on Adults / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

The present study was conducted to clarify the psychophysiological relaxation effects of viewing bamboo on university students. Forty healthy Chinese participants enrolled in this study to clarify the psychophysiological relaxation effects of viewing bamboo. The effects of visual stimulation using a pot both with and without a bamboo were recorded by measuring the student's blood pressure, EEG and STAI. We observed that viewing bamboo plants resulted in significantly lower systolic (female, P < 0.001; male, P < 0.001; P < 0.05) and diastolic (female, P < 0.001; male, P < 0.001; P < 0.05) blood pressures, but no changes in the pulse rate (female, P = 0.09; male, P = 0.07; P > 0.05) were observed. The results of the EEG analysis indicated brainwave variation (all P < 0.05) and lower anxiety scores (P < 0.01) after 3 min of viewing bamboo compared with the control. These findings indicate that visual stimulation with bamboo plants induced psychophysiological relaxation effects on adults.

Karyotype and evolutionary trend analysis of Scutellaria species in Jinyun mountain, Chongqing / 中国中药杂志

Traditional squash method was used to analyze chromosome number and karyotypes of four Scutellaria species in Chongqing Jinyun Mountain Natural Reserve： Scutellaria tsinyunensis, S.yunnanensis, S.franchetiana and S.indica.The result showed that the chromosome numbers were 26 except for S.franchetiana, which had 24 chromosomes.These species were all diploid with metacentric and submetacentric chromosomes.Their karyotypes were symmetrical and primitive.The karyotype formula of S.tsinyunensis is 2n=2x=26=24m+2sm, 1B type, As.k=55.28%; the karyotype formula of S.yunnanensis var.salicifolia is 2n=2x=26=26m, 1B type, As.k=56.11%; the karyotype formula of S.franchetiana is 2n=2x=24=20m+4sm, 2B type, As.k=58.50%; the karyotype formula of S.indica is 2n=2x=24=20m+4sm, 2B type, As.k=58.41%.The results were compared with the reported data of S.baicalensis and S.alaschanica.S.alaschanica is expected to be the most advanced one whereas S.tsinyunensis, and S.yunnanensis var. salicifolia primitive.These results are expected to provide some references to the origin and differentiation of genus Scutellaria.

Research progress of α-crystaIIin in regeneration of optic nerve injury / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

·α-crystallin is the predominant structural protein in the lens.lt is a member of small heat shock proteins ( sHSPs) which has the common functions of HSPs.lt also has anti-apoptotic activity etc.Recently, it has been proved to combine with the cellular membrane of retinal ganglion cells ( RGCs ) to enhance the survival of RGCs and the regeneration of axons, thereby partly restore visual function.But we haven’t come to a unified conclusion of the mechanism.This review is focused on structure and functions of α-crystallin, the protection function and mechanism of α-crystallin towards RGCs after the optic nerve injury.